Watercolor Clouds

A couple of people have remarked on the watercolor clouds. They are so easy to do, I thought I'd share it here. We are painting clouds right now to get in the habit of looking at the sky to study what kind of clouds they are. Every day Pamela writes the name of the cloud (stratus, cumulus, cirrus, and nimbus). We are also doing a couple of experiments on vapor and evaporation before we dig into books later in the year.
Step One - I cut a 9 x 12 sheet of watercolor paper in half. I use 90 lb. paper because we like to save the more expensive 140 lb. paper for special projects. To make the lovely border, tape a piece of the cut paper to a board with masking tape or painters tape.
Step Two - Collect supplies: big brushes, paper towels, and two bowls with washes (basically dirty water made by dipping you brush into a color and cleaning it off with water). We have a kit of 24 watercolor tubes: black and cerulean blue are good for this project. Then, go outside and look at the sky to see what kind of clouds you have and what colors you need. Today is a gray overcast (stratus clouds).
Step Three - Make a wet wash. Dip the brush the dirty water (we chose black because of the stratus clouds) and get it "juicy" as Pamela's art teacher likes to say. Then cover the entire paper, making it nice and wet. You may see some puddles on your paper. It's okay. You can take care of that in the next step.

Step Five - Scrunch up the paper towel and quickly and lightly press on the puddle to sop up the puddle only. In watercolor, your paper towel is your best friend: it can lift color when you make a mistake or think the color is overpowering. (Colors never over power Pamela). A paper towel leaves an interesting texture and makes lovely clouds (try color lifting from a blue wash and you will see some lovely cumulus clouds). We have not made cirrus clouds yet (the feathery ones). I will post on that once we make them.
Step Six - Dip your brush into black (or blue) mixed with a little water. Dip the brush once into the wash (only once). Then dollop the color quickly onto the wet wash. It should still be wet to get the right effect. Keep in mind you have no control over what the colors do. Wet-on-wet is quite unpredictable and bleeds into all sorts of unpredictable shapes. If you have dark storm clouds, you will want more wet-on-wet. If you have stratus clouds like we do, you will want less. You can see in the picture how quickly Pamela moves her hand.










Step Seven - If you have too much wet or too much color or want to make some clouds, scrunch up a paper towel and dab those spots. You can see how quickly Pamela moves her hands. Once it dries completely, remove the tape and write on the border.

Expressiveness

Pamela gave a couple of priceless narrations that reflect her personality and her growing vocabulary. She kicked off the day, narrating what she had previously read in Genesis:

Abraham is sad and blue because Sarah is expired. Got to bury and buy a cave. It is almost time for the debut of Rebekkah.

From a person who has struggled with aphasia most of her life, that narration was fantastic! Debut entered Pamela's vocabulary when she started researching the history of television. Last spring, she loved juxtaposing debut and debt "From the Lord's Prayer" which stood out to her because our old church used the more familiar trespasses. I have no idea where expire came from but she's been sprinkling many narrations with it.

When she read the word anxiety in the passage on Caesar, she related it immediately to her own anxious feelings and narrated,

Caesar was mad. He was freaking out. He broke his camp. He marched! Humpf!

She borrowed some language from The Big Comfy Couch when she related a story about Andrew Jackson's inaugural party,

They put mud on the couch. Who made this big mess with Andrew Jackson? They got into big trouble.

Pamela also showed spunk when she narrated the first snow of the winter for a little brother she sometimes calls a brat,

Prediction - Pinch get into trouble ice skating. He disobey.

What Really Happened - He put stone in the snow. He make a stupid stone on snowball.

Today's Artistic Expression
Pamela also expressed herself in pictures today, drawing a mosaic we found at the art gallery, for her review of ancient art. She painted the sky again for science and added monkey grass to her nature notebook.


First Turtle
Pamela started watercolor classes in August. Every time the class meets, each painting, guided by the same instructor on the same subject, looks completely unique. People accept individuality in art, but somehow that idea doesn't translate as well to reading a passage from a book. We are tempted to look for certain facts that must be recalled and certain ways in which ideas must be expressed. That is not the point of narration. Just as art reflects the personality and reaction of the artist, a narration too reflects the personality and reaction of the reader.

We loved Pamela's turtle so much that we framed it and made a latte cup for Steve.



Pat Terry's Traveling Turtles
Pamela's first turtle was based upon a picture. Her second turtle was even better because she had live models! A friend found wild slider turtle eggs and built a nest for them. She took strong measures to protect the eggs from crows. A few weeks ago, they hatched and she has been taking them to classrooms and other settings where people can study them. The adorable baby turtles inspired the whole class. Today, Pamela added the finishing touch to her watercolor.



Watercolors from August

Wordless Wednesday: Looking Forward to Easter